Isaiah (Kykkotis) of Tamassos

His Eminence, the Most Reverend Isaias (Kykkotis) of Tamassos and Orinis is the Metropolitan of the Diocese of Tamassos and Orinis of the Church of Cyprus.

Life

Metr. Isaias was born in 1971 in Strovolos, Cyprus of parents who had been displaced from their home during the ethnic divisions in Cyprus. He attended and graduated from the Acropolis Lyceum. After his graduation he served in the army of Cyprus before enrolling in the Seminary of Apostle Barnabas in 1990 and, at the same time, joined the Kykkos Monastery as a novice.

In 1992, Isaias began his theological studies at the Moscow Seminary in Russia at the direction of AbbotNikiforos of Kykkos Monastery, and graduated with Honors in 1997. He continued studies at the Moscow Seminary, completing his post-graduate work with a paper, "The Life and Works of St. Neophtos the Confined". He then continued his post graduate education at the Theological Faculty of the Aristotle University of Thessalonica, completing a three year program in Ecclesiastical Archaeology. Isaias then returned to Russia as a nominee for Doctor of Theology at the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary|Moscow Theological Academy]]. After acceptance of his dissertation, "The History and the Theological Content of the Kollyvadiki in Ayion Oros" he was granted, in 2003, the degree of Doctor of Theology by the Council of the Moscow Academy.

Archim. Isaias was active as a representative of the Monastery of Kykkos. He participated in many theological, cultural, and humanitarian conferences in Cyprus and abroad as a member of the "World Movement of Religions and Cultures." He also participated in programs in the United States of America on the role of the Church in a modern multicultural society. Serving under Bishop Nikiforos, Isaias supervised, for Kykkos Monastery, the Department of Direct Granting of Humanitarian Help and Spiritual Support of the disabled. This involved visiting and organizing help programs in countries that were affected by wars, hunger, or disasters. Archim. Isaias also served with the blessing of Abp. Chrysostomos I as confessor of non-Cyprian Orthodox prisoners in the Central Prisons.